BUT IT’S ONLY OPINION!

One of the most popular and longest running talking points in our current media culture goes something like this:

"The American people are pretty sharp, they know the difference between news and opinion. People listen to Beck\Limbaugh for entertainment."

This dog whistle came up in Bill O'Reilly's segment with the Daily Show's Jon Stewart. Sadly, Stewart largely fumbled his response and O'Reilly knocked it out of the park. Liberals, for some reason, have always wilted in the presence of this talking point. Here is the relevant parts from transcript (bold emphasis is mine, and apologies for the length):

O'REILLY: You don't think people know "The Factor" is an opinion show? You don't think they know that?

STEWART: It's not — certainly not clearly labeled. I've looked at your promos. You're part of the fair and balanced part. You're part of the most trusted name in news.

O'REILLY: I am fair and balanced. But you don't think people know "The O'Reilly Factor" isn't an opinion show? That's like saying somebody watching your show, they don't know it's a comedy show. Come on, Stewart. Wise up, man. Everybody knows this. People watching in Pakistan, you know, they have little DirecTV. They say, O'Reilly is opinion show. They know. They know. They know you're a comic and they know I'm opinion guy.

At this point O'Reilly makes a big deal about McCain and Cheney not coming on his program to answer his "tough" questions. Stweart largely fumbles through this exchange making cracks about McCain and Cheney while missing an opportunity to point out that the two constantly appear on other Fox News programs. O'Reilly then goes in for the kill:

O'REILLY: It's two concrete examples. John McCain running for president on the GOP side; Dick Cheney, Mr. GOP. Neither man would come in here because the questioning is too tough. So don't give me I'm a Republican shrill. That's bull.

Stewart at this point folds under pressure and resorts to kissing O'Reilly's ass:

STEWART: You — like I say, you are the most reasonable — have become the most reasonable voice on Fox, which quite frankly...

[...]

STEWART: You have become in some ways the voice of sanity here, which, as I said, is like being the thinnest kid...

Then, knowing he has been taken, Stewart tries to re-group and points out a very important fact, O'Rielly comes back full circle:

STEWART: Their cyclonic perpetual emotion machine that is a 24-hour a day, 7-day a week. They've taken reasonable concerns about this president and this economy and turned it into a full-fledged panic attack about the next coming of Chairman Mao. Explain to me why that is the narrative of your network?

O'REILLY: It's the narrative of a couple of guys, a Republican, Sean Hannity, and a guy, Glenn Beck, who's basically everyman. And he's basically...

Wow! Just wow! It is amazing how Liberals fumble this talking point. It's only opinion! It's just a couple of guys spouting their thoughts! Needless to say, editorials, opinions, and even jokes can spread information just as easily as news can. When that information contains bogus facts, it deserves to be fact-checked just like everyone else.

What I wish Stewart had said: Bill, in all honesty, opinion can influence views on politics just as easily, if not more so than regular news can. You forget that McCain & Cheney made several appearances on the news portions of your network, are you saying that your news department is incapable of asking tough questions? Look Bill, Sean and Glenn may be "everyman", but that only means that they have the trust and attention of your "everyman" viewers and just because they spout opinion does not mean they should be free from fact-checking. Neither one of us should be immune from fact-checking for that matter. Wouldn't you agree?

CBS Creates a Lion, Pundits Fawn & Wail In His Presence

Dumbness abounds in our current culture, values and priorities have wandered over to the Twilight Zone, the Gods above roll with laughter. The past couple of weeks have been spectacularly dumb with the rendering of a major Supreme Court decision and the annual State of the Union address (Hint: that state ain't so good). Such events require major clarification to help us rubes sort out the facts. But, sadly, the pundit brigade has more important things to do than clarify things for us rubes. Luckily, another major annual event is coming this Sunday, one that will allow us to escape our deeply broken culture, at least for a day. But, Darlings! CBS has decided it must inject a cultural issue into the big game by airing a "courageous" ad from Focus On The Family, starring their courageous hero, Tim Tebow! Sigh! So much for that escape.

To be perfectly honest, I have no problem with this ad -- Good For FOTF! Good for Tim Tebow! Professional and collegiate athletes in this country have, for far too long, been treated like indentured servants, barred from showing any character or using their platform to speak on issues or beliefs. My interest in this is two-fold: 1) The reactions to the ad. 2) The decision by CBS to air it.

Political Reaction to the Ad

How dumb have the reactions to this ad been? Unbelievably dumb! First off, if we are to believe the script of the ad, Tim's mom Pam was pregnant with Tim while doing missionary work in the Philippines and caught a severe case of dysentery. Doctors advised the risk to the fetus and (allegedly) recommended an abortion. Pam choose life. Everyone lives happily ever after. It is always possible the story is spiced up for dramatic effect, but the gist is that PAM MADE A CHOICE. Good for her!

Political groups have fallen over each other in a race to see who can make the dumbest reaction. The left side (women rights groups, pro-choice groups) have railed against the ad with claims of it being "anti-abortion" and "encouraging women to put their life at risk". All these groups ever wanted, all they have ever fought for, is the right for women to think for themselves and make their own choices without any government intrusion. This is exactly what Pam did! Instead of criticizing her story, they should be spinning it as a pefect example in the Pro-Choice movement, using the ad to their own advantage. And besides, of all the Super Bowl ads these activists should criticize, this should be the last one on the list. Never mind all the chicks in g-strings being used to sell trucks and beer! In all seriousness, this is how Liberals lose elections. Sneering at other peoples values, claiming to be pro-choice while mocking and ridiculing choices they don't like. This is exactly how idiots like Beck and Palin get famous, consuming a heavy diet of this ridicule and transforming it into their own breed of cultural politics.

Media Reaction to the Ad

Media reaction to the ad has been a teachable moment. Roughly for the last two decades, the media speak and act in Group Thought. Once a narrative and script is set, they must all say and think the the same thing! The narrative in this case is that "Tim Tebow is taking a stand", "Tim Tebow is courageous." All stories and commentary must adopt this framework. Darlings! Tim Tebow is sooooo courageous and heroic in taking this stance! Presumably, the media are developing this framework, not because he is merely standing up for his believes, but because he is doing so in the face of pseudo-criticism (as described above). Sorry Darlings! There is nothing courageous in taking a stand against women's reproductive rights. There is nothing courageous about wearing eye-black with biblical messages, talk to me when it lands you jobless or in prison.

Have we become so dumb that we have forgotten what a real courageous stance is? Muhammad Ali's decision to refuse the draft landed him in prison. Tommie Smith and John Carlos, after their black-gloved salute in the 1968 Olympic Games, were stripped of their medals and became pariahs back home, unable to find work and support their families. Those are true examples of courageous stands.

How Can CBS Air the Ad in the First Place?

Another reaction in this soap opera has seen outrage aimed at CBS for airing the ad in the first place. Oddly, there has been no real analysis for this decision, only mindless ranting and wailing. The decision is not political, it is strictly branding related. That's right, branding! For a quick background, CBS has exclusive rights to air SEC football games and is finishing the last year of a 15-year contract that pays the SEC roughly $30 million a year. CBS is set to renew another 15-year contract that roughly doubles the payout to $60 million a year. This contract has been hugely successful for CBS, the SEC games, especially Florida home games, draw very good ratings and ad revenue for CBS. Playing one of the supporting roles in these ratings for the last four seasons is Tim Tebow, the Heisman-winning quarter back from Florida. A real courageous stand for Tebow to take would be accounting of all this money. He sure as heck doesn't see a dime of it despite doing all the work and taking all the pain. Are these funds being used to improve academic programs, or to lower tuition? Or are they being re-cycled into the football profit center?

What does "The SEC on CBS" logo mean for the company? Are they merely sponsoring football games or are they trying to tap into Southeastern culture? Football is culture in the Southeast. CBS is branding more than football, they are branding Southeastern culture, tapping into many millions of viewers to sell five-dollar-foot-longs, beer, and trucks. This branding is worth many millions of dollars to CBS and that probably drove their decision to run the ad. To them, Tim Tebow is a marketing tool, not a political advocate taking a stand. Surely, Tebow understands this himself, realizing his eye-blacked biblical passages are a good way to market his own brand. There is nothing wrong with any of this, of course, but it is just amazing how the pundit brigade has missed the financial/commercial aspect of this decision, deciding instead to focus on the political aspect.

As for me, with drink in hand, I will be rolling my eyes at two of the most successful marketing tools this brand has ever created: The-Greatest-Quarterback-Known-To-Mankind-Peyton-Manning (From Tennessee) and Tim-Tebow-The-Second-Coming (from Florida). Go Saints!

Please Don't Go Girl -- New Kids on the Block

Tell me you'll stay
Never ever go away
I need you (I need you)
I guess I always will

Please don't judge me internet . . . Every once in a while I like to relive the days of my youth (except the middle schools days because, let's face it, middle school sucked lemons). These guys and their bubble gum lyrics help me do that.

I was a huge, and I do mean HUGE New Kids, or NKOTB, fan. At one time, photos of the band from smuggled Bop, Bopper, Seventeen and Teen, magazines were used as wallpaper in my room. I had the pillow, the pillow case, the tapes, the buttons, the tour jacket, the posters, the teddy bear, and the official membership in the New Kids fan club. I wrote to the boys, who never wrote back because I am sure they were all fighting over me. . . let me live the dream. I literally drove my mother crazy with the music. I was somewhat of an outcast in my school for liking these guys. Everyone else was into "real" music groups like Pet Shop Boys, Survivor, INXS and Guns 'n Roses, but I was all about the Kids.

My favorite was Joe . . .I mean, look at that punum there. When he did this song, he had that sexy high voice (damn puberty for taking that away from me). He just is too cute for poetry. Donny scared me, Danny was just there, Jon was a fantasy of an older man sort (if I am being completely honest, he made my tooshy tingle just a bit but he was into Tiffany and I could not compete), and Jordan could make my toes curl with the falsetto . . .but I was lost to Joe.

This is my favorite of their songs, primarily because of the Joe starring role. Lets face it, the lyrics are average at best, and boy band trite to say the least, but oh they spoke to the young and starstruck me. I used to play this over and over and over singing to the lyrics and imagining that Joe was in my room singing to me.

When I finally got to see the guys in concert, which is a story for another time, I lost my voice screaming for Joe while he was singing this song. Sadly, he probably never saw me in the crowd that night, what with the thousands of other screaming fans who had the audacity to come to my concert. But he sang this for me and only me.

His girl still ain't gone. She may be a bit older, and somewhat (being generous here) more mature, but the song and the memories can still cause tooshy tingle.

Barry Manilow -- The Concert

Because music comes in all forms, and all formats, I decided to share some of my most memorable concert experiences as part of the new blog format.

There is a story here. . .don't judge. I love my brother Mike. I really, really, REALLY love my brother Mike. He is the only one in the world I would have done this for.

With that, let me set the scene . . .Picture it, St Louis, the late nineties. I am in college getting ready to come home for the holidays when I get a call from my mother. The conversation basically went as follows:

"Hi Sweetie. We have the laundry room cleared for you. How many suitcases can I expect and should I bring the SUV to pick you up?"

"Very funny," I replied. And after a prolonged silence, "alright, two large ones and two carry ons. You may want to bring a dolly."

After much laughter, Mom carried on. "Honey, you may need to sit down, I have news. I left your father unsupervised with your brother recently . . ."

"Mom, we have discussed this. They are never, ever to be left alone. Mike is sneaky and Dad is susceptible. Just tell me. How bad can it be?"

Mom took a deep, dramatic breath, and then she let fly with the horror. "Your brother learned that Barry Manilow is coming to San Diego soon, and he told your father, and your father got tickets, and he got four tickets, and I am not going without you."

"I need a drink."

"You're too young to drink," Mom replied primly.

"Mom, do you really want me to remind you of the Mexico incidents from your youth?"

"I should have never encouraged you to speak. Moreover, I should have just waited until you were home and let you find out the hard way," Mom replied. "Anyway, that is not the worst, I mean best part. Don't you want to know where we are sitting?"

"Isn't it bad enough that we are sitting in the arena?" I replied glibly.

More silence, and then the dreaded words. "Kelly, your father went through a ticket broker. We are sitting on the floor, in the front row, dead center."

The remainder of the conversation is not fit to print . . .sufficed to say, I hit at least three of Carlin's Seven Dirty Words in the remainder of the conversation and then I hightailed it to the campus bar for liquid courage. But lets face it . . .there is no amount of liquid that could dull the senses enough.

Fast forward to me coming home, somewhat subdued and drowning in dirty laundry. Mom and I girded our collective stomachs and prepared for the Barely Man-enough (did I say that) concert. Some brilliant person, otherwise known as my masochistic Dad, suggested we make a night of it with dinner before hand. Oh goody, so I will have a full stomach to throw up with.

The concert was at one of the local arenas and before I knew it, I was plunked in a folding chair on the front row between my brother and my mom. All too soon, the lights went down and the show began.

Can I just say that Barry Manilow is one of the smallest men I have ever seen. I mean, I could seriously span his waist with my hands (not on a first date of course). He was wearing a purple suit and enough make up to put Mary Kay in the black for decades. And lucky me, I got to see it all up close and very personally.

Mike, on the other hand, missed a good chunk of the concert. Apparently, Barry has a large, and I do mean LARGE following, in the form of very voluptuous women. I mean, seriously, there was not a Weight Watchers meeting that night . . .all the ladies were screaming for Barry.

The largest of the large Marge's was conveniently seated right behind Mike. The reason Mike missed a majority of the concert is because his "lady friend's" bodacious and humongous tatas were literally covering Mike's head. Every once in a while, Mike would swipe blindly at the woman trying to move the gazungas out of the way, but it was useless. Mike spent the entire concert head banging to the great sounds of Copacabana, and not voluntarily.

Mom and I were in tears . . . The laughter had us completely breathless. Dad, in the meantime, was practically sitting on Mike's lap because the person next to him took up all of her seat and half of his. None of us really saw the show on stage. The one in the audience was too good to miss.

It was one of the best concerts of my life, simply because of the stories and memories that we have as a family. Also because we all ended up having to have chiropractic treatments and massages to recover from the beatings we took.

Standing Outside the Fire -- Garth Brooks

Standing outside the fire
Life is not tried, it is merely survived
If you're standing outside the fire

I found Country music in college. I was a hard core, pop rock, high hair, trendy and boy band crazy fiend all through middle and high school. Then I went to St Louis, and a couple of my friends turned me onto the Country music genre.

I was forever hooked, much to my family's dismay. I started talking with a twang and saying "y'all" constantly in conversation I had the boots, the hat, and the tendency to frequent the stuff-kickers bar, otherwise known as Stampede, on the weekends. I mastered line dancing, and I tried to become proficient at the two step . . . for which I will eternally remember the men whose toes were sacrificed in that fun pursuit.

Garth Brooks was HUGE when I was in college, and there are so many of his songs that I love. This one speaks to me from the lyrics to the video. It is, at its most basic, about not letting life go on without you and not being afraid of the scrapes, the scars and most of all the adventure.

There is a point in the movie The Holiday where Kate Winslet's character talks about being the master of her own life. For a long time I lived to fulfill the expectations of others. I was afraid to step off the path that had been set before me . . . education, a stable job and a predictable path. It has only been in the last decade or so that I have learned to make life mine.

It is so much easier when the only map you follow is your own. Don't get me wrong, I am so grateful to all the people who have pushed me to succeed, but I am so very happy to be choosing my own paths now. I stopped asking permission and I started asserting myself and speaking to my feelings and emotions. It is so empowering to know that I do not have to be afraid of having thoughts, feelings and emotions.

If I want to jump into the fire, the only person I need to check with is myself.

Sound of Silence = Ignorance?

Kelly's post got me thinking today. Today I am thinking we must be the dumbest nation on the planet. I normally stay silent about such things that bother me, for fear of appearing too shrill or Un-Serious. But maybe that is what Simon & Garfunckel meant in their lyrics; when we don't speak out against unjustice, when we don't try to reach out to others in hopes of furthering our understanding, only silence remains while ingorance reigns. Silence keeps us divided and clueless which only serves the interests of power. After all, the 60's were a very political time, now of course, discussing politics is taboo, not allowed.

The sound of ignorance has been too much to bear lately. Where to start? Heath care reform is Socialism! The Estate Tax is double taxation! War criminals/terrorists should not be given trials, should be tortured, and they hate us for our freedoms! Big Government never does anything right! Harry Reid is big fat racist! You can diet at the local Taco Bell drive-thru!

Racism is one topic were we have remained silent, allowing ignorance to dominate. The current Harry Reid flap is a perfect example. The ignorance was in full display in the national media this morning, you see, Trent Lott said something racist and had to resign, therefore, Reid should resign to! Without getting into the particulars of what was said or who said what, an aspect of the comparison was silent from the conversation - the senators actions! What policies or laws had they actually sponsored or voted for? Sorry, in our current national discourse, such silly trivial details are not open for discussion - it only matters what people say!

Harry Reid has been in politics since 1966, when the term "Negro" was a standard, conventional, mutual term of respect (Dr. King used it repeatedly). Harry Reid has an unimpeachable voting record on civil rights. Trent Lott on the other hand opposed the Voting Rights Act and opposed making a federal holiday for Dr. King's birthday. I am no huge fan of Reid and would not be sad to see him resign, but Good Lord, a racist he is not. He should not resign for what he said, although he ought to resign for passing a horrible health care bill, but caving it to coporate interests is unimportant, you see, he said "Negro", that is far more important to address!

Ok, that is it, back to the sound of silence for me!

Sound of Silence -- Simon and Garfunkel

"Fools," said I, "You do not know
"Silence like a cancer grows."
"Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you."
But my words like silent raindrops fell,
And echoed in the wells of silence.

Those who really know me probably would question what I know about the sound of silence. I like to talk . . . whether people like to listen is a topic for debate at the highest levels.

In all honesty though, silence is something I am familiar with. I can be, in equal measures, very devious and very vulnerable when I get quiet. Dave's first warning sign is normally my silence, for it is pretty stark when it hits. What I don't often say is that, for me, the silence is just as important, just as loud, as the talk. We can learn so much in quiet.

Sidebar here -- Have you ever noticed that some of the most intelligent, outgoing and gregarious people can often also be the quietest? If they are anything like me, it is because there are times when they crave the precious resource of peace and silence. Silence is restorative at its most basic, but it can also be a powerful path to any number of ends.

I consider myself to be a smart person, but sometimes song lyrics just do not make sense to me. The lyrics to "Sound of Silence," for the most part, go right over my head. Except for the passage that I quoted. I can see how silence can eat someone whole and leave nothing behind. But I also see how constant noise without its peaceful counterpart can be just as empty.

Communication is so integral to our social structure, but it is amazing how bad we can be at this very fundamental skill. Books and lectures have been written, seminars conducted, millions of dollars have transferred hands, but in the end we, as humans, can really stink at talking to each other.

In my opinion, basic as it may be, it is because we forget that God gave us (yes I am going there) two ears but only one mouth. We need to listen twice as often and twice as well as we speak. So much can be avoided through active listening, and really hearing the words in their context as delivered. If we put half the money we have spent into listening seminars, I think we would be a lot better off.

Words can mean so much, but the silence can be just as instructive.